


Varian’s got a crushhhh

by 0Some_Mistakes_Get_Made0



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Crush at First Sight, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23826679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0Some_Mistakes_Get_Made0/pseuds/0Some_Mistakes_Get_Made0
Summary: THIS TAKES PLACE RIGHT AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER (REPRISE) IN TANGLED: THE SERIESVarian is a flustered boi and has a (TOTALLY NOT) crush on the visitor from Vardaros.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Rapunzel & Varian (Disney), Varian & Vex (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 19





	1. You think she's pretty?

**Author's Note:**

> There’s a single mention of Varian’s sister; she’s just an OC, just pass right on by that  
> This is a pure fluff series. Except for cursing.

The crowd dispersed, and everyone went back to their lives. Varian beamed at Quirin, who gave a gentle smile. This really felt like happily ever after. He left his father’s side to talk with Eugene and Lance.

“Hey, kid! How’re things going as the Royal Engineer?” Eugene asked.

Varian’s eyes lit up. “Great! Haha, my dad and I have never been closer, and I’m working on a new type of light, that, activates when broken! Just… Trying to darken it to make sure it doesn’t blind anyone.”

Eugene and Lance chuckled. Meanwhile, Varian passed his eye over the small groups of people, and a young girl, his age, caught his eye. Her hair was pulled in two, long braids, and she wore a tired but friendly gaze. It took a second for him to realize he was staring.

Snapping out of his attention to the girl, he tugged Eugene’s sleeve.

“H-hey, Eugene, do you know who she is?”

Eugene and Lance looked in the direction Varian had indicated to.

“That’s Vex, she’s visiting from a city called Vardaros,” Eugene answered, feeling oddly confused.

“Oh. Huh.”

The conversation continued, but Varian didn’t look like he was fully in tune with the conversation, more with Vex. While Eugene hadn’t noticed, Lance had. And, as he connected the dots, his grin grew. Blushing, lack of concentration, staring…

“Hey, Varian?”

“Mhm, yeah?”

“You seem a little ‘preoccupied’; does Vex have to do with that..?”

Varian’s ears heated, and he quickly turned to Lance.

“No, no, what, of course not… Why would she? I mean, I know nothing about her… All I know about her is she’s pretty-“

“Ooooooh, you think she’s pretty?”

“No, I mean-“

By this time, Eugene figured out what Lance meant, and he began to grin with him.

“Oh, no. Not you too, Eugene,” Varian muttered.

Eugene placed a hand on Varian’s shoulder. “So, why don’t you go talk to her? If you know nothing, why not find out more about her..?”

“Well, y-you see-“ Varian began to sputter and stutter, cheeks growing redder as he tried to come up with an answer.

Eugene held his hands up. “Alright, alright, kid, we’ll let your crush go.”

Varian exhaled before jumping, “Wait, no, it’s not-“

Lance and Eugene walked with him back to the castle. (Teasing him along the way, yes.)

<•>

Varian poured the glowing material into its casing slowly. “One drop, two drops-“

Rapunzel knocked on the door and proceeded to let herself in.

“Hey, Varian.”

Varian dropped everything, leaving a glowy goo on the table, which disgruntled him, but he’d clean that up later.

“Hey, Raps! Daily check-in?”

“Yup, everything going well?”

Varian made an ‘ehhh’ gesture with his hand and motioned to the failed tests. “Since my father and sister are back in Old Corona, crop season and all that, production is a bit slow. BUT I have almost made a solution that works. Well, had.”

He moved so she could see the spillage.

Raps immediately looked sorry as Varian went to grab a towel.

“Oh no… I’m sorry, Varian. That was my fault, I didn’t mean to-“

Varian cut her off and gave her a reassuring smile, “It’s fine, really. Besides, I think that last batch would’ve worked, so if I copy exactly what I did, I’ll have my perfect…” He realized he hadn’t named it.

“Hm, I’ll think of a name soon enough.”

Raps helped him clean, and after a few seconds of silence, innocently inquired, “So… You like Vex?”

Varian’s eyes widened, and he nearly fell over. “Which one told you? Not that it’s true, but who? Lance or Eugene?” He asked in one breath.

“Neither..?” Rapunzel flashed a smile, but Varian saw right through and combatted with his own look of disdain.

Rapunzel caved and admitted, “Okayyyy, it was Lance.”

Varian groaned and sprung up. “D’oh! LANCE!” He called out the door before realizing Lance was probably at work. Rapunzel gently placed a hand on Varian’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, he meant nothing by it.”

Varian folded his arms and sat on a nearby chair. “Doesn’t matter, it’s not true, anyway.”

Raps grabbed a chair next to him. (Why were there so many chairs in the Royal Chamber..?)

“So, do you know why he would think this..?”

He grumbled under his breath slightly.

“Varian?”

The boy gave in and told her what happened in the town center, hiding behind his gloves. “And maybe I accidentally called her pretty, but that’s not the point,” Varian said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

“Aw, Varian, that’s adorable-“

Varian groaned and sunk deeper into his chair.

“But yeah, that’s why Lance is WRONG.”

Raps straightened her posture and cleared her throat. “Alright, you wanna know what I think?”

“?”

“I think, you should go talk to her. You two would get along well.”

Varian bit his lip and gripped his apron. After a moment of quiet, he responded calmly, “Maybe you’re right.”

He smiled; Raps squeezed his hand. His past experiences with (TOTALLY NOT) crushes weren’t the best, but, he could hope this one would turn out better.

Rapunzel moved her hand away, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

She opened her mouth to say something, but someone knocked on the door. “Princess, someone’s at the castle for you.”

Rapunzel sighed and hugged Varian goodbye.

Varian waved goodbye before going back to work on his project.

<•>

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick-

The clock sent Varian mad. He hadn’t slept a wink. This was standard, he hadn’t been getting sleep for a while. (Funny, all he did in prison was sleep.)

Tick, tock, tick-

Giving up, Varian tossed on a hood and cloak and grabbed a lantern. A walk would clear his mind, and then back to sleep he would go. Probably not, but he had working on the project the entire day, and he deserved a break! (He’s finally practicing self-care, I’m so proud of him…)

He headed out into the night and glanced around, cautiously tugging at the sides of his cloak’s hood. No one appeared to be awake. He walked downhill to the docks and sat down. Raps’ birthday would come next week, and soon this sky would light up with lanterns.

Rapunzel’s birthday was, of course, important, he already had a gift prepared, but the thought of the lanterns being lit again warmed his heart. He turned his head to the side and noticed someone else on another dock.

Fuck, it was Vex… He got up and slowly walked backward. Had she seen him? He held his breath.

Wanna know the funny thing about walking backward? You don’t realize how easy it is to trip, and a single, tiny box can send you falling. Well, Varian lost his balance and-

CHAPTER 1’S END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger.


	2. A conversation in the dead of night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian went sploosh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my boi!  
> It doesn't excuse the amount bunches of angst, but I love my boi!

SPLASH!

Varian coughed and tried to reach for the dock, but a hand grabbed his instead. They pulled him up, and he coughed up more water.

“*cough* Thanks.”

He looked up to see Vex and really wanted to throw himself back into the freezing water. He stood up, shivering, and held out a hand. “H-Hi, I’m V-Varian-”

Vex ignored the handshake and snatched the collar of his cloak, pulling him close.

“Why are you out here in the middle of the night?!”

Varian’s cheeks turned red from being so close to her, but he answered anyway.

“I- Um- C-couldn’t sleep.”

Vex let go of him, and he stumbled back. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and held her hand out.

“I’m Vex.”

He shook her hand, pretending he didn’t already know her name. That sounded weird and creepy-

She helped the heavy cloak off him, and he sat down on a crate while she leaned against a post.

“S-so, why are you out here?” Varian asked, pulling at his hair to get the water out.

“Same reason as you,” responded Vex blankly.

“Oh. Insomnia sucks,” Varian replies which Vex chuckled to.

Varian looked up at the stars, leading Vex to do the same.

“We don’t get stars like this where I’m from; you guys are lucky,” she said not taking her eyes off the stars.

They sat in silence, staring at the sky. Soon, Varian spoke up. “What’s it like, where you’re from?”

“It’s a fixer-upper city, to say the least.”

She blinked and wrinkled her nose.

“Can’t believe I said, ‘fixer-upper city.’ “ Varian laughed while she muttered, “I’ve been hanging around Quaid too long...”

He asked, “Who’s Quaid?”

She turned her head back to the sky. “Oh, he’s the sheriff of Var- where I’m from.”

Vex grinned and pointed towards herself, “Not to be conceited, but I’m Deputy.”

He smiled and declared, “I’m, heh, the Royal Science Engineer...”

She looked him up and down, grinning. “That explains the nerd get-up.”

“Nerd? I thought it was more-“

A gush of wind blew by, and he shivered harshly. He was so deep in conversation, even *he* forgot that he was soaking wet.

Vex stood up, concerned. “We should get you inside...”

Varian got up, himself. Dammit, no! He wanted to spend more time with Vex...

“Pfft, it’s fine. I’m-“

A harder gust of wind hit as if to say, ‘IT’S FREEZING OUTSIDE, GO HOME!’

He shuddered, and Vex grabbed his cloak for him. He sighed and looked down; she was right.

“Yeah...”

Vex took him by the hand, flustering Varian. “Now, where’s the science chamber thingie?”

“Uh- um- Just drop me off at the castle..”

Vex nodded and, well, didn’t drag him, but she did pull him along.

After a few minutes, Varian broke the silence with, “So, how long are you going to be staying in Corona?”

“Until after the princess’s birthday.”

“Oh...”

Varian did feel a tad disappointed she wouldn’t stay longer, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

They arrived at the castle and stopped.

Varian politely asked, “So, wanna meet-up again tomorrow?”

Vex looked at him, confused. “Hm?”

“Why don’t we meet up at 3:00 or 4:00 tomorrow? Back at the dock?”

She thought about it for a minute before shrugging, “Sure.”

“R-REALLY-“ He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, sure, that’s good, see you at the dock!”

She laughed in that huff sort of way and opened the castle door. “Alright, alright, get in there, ya knucklehead,” proceeding to shove him in the castle before quietly shutting the door.

Varian grinned and tried to stop himself from laughing with delight. He talked to Vex, and it went well! It didn’t end awkwardly, and she wanted to meet up again too! He gave himself a silent cheer before shivering again and heading back to his lab.

A warm shower and sleep first, cheer later.

<•>

Safe to say, he *still* didn’t sleep a bit that night, but this time it was out of excitement. He had spent the entire rest of his “morning” back on the [name not yet given] experiment. Which surprisingly actually DID make him tired, causing him to collapse into bed at around 7 am. (Hey, this was not a planned falling-asleep so it doesn’t count.)

5 more hours passed, and a knock was heard at the door. Again, Raps let herself in.

Varian lifted his head off the pillow and squinted as Rapunzel lit a couple of candles.

“Raps..?”

Rapunzel giggled and sat down. “Someone slept in again.”

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “How do you keep with Daily Check-In’s if you still have princess duties?”

She smiled and shrugged, “As the princess, I do have many duties, but my duties to my friends are more important.”

He groaned and collapsed back onto the bed. “God, that was cheesy.”

They both laughed before Raps added in a silly tone, “Besides, we don’t want you kidnapped by any bad baddies!”

They laughed harder, despite the fact they agreed that it wasn’t really that funny, considering their trauma....which is why humor exists!

She tilted her head and asked, “You seem more cheerful and awake, what’s up with that?”

He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject, “I’m gonna get coffee; I’m actually feeling more tired!”

Raps narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Varian, we both know caffeine doesn’t work for you...”

He chugged a cup of coffee that he somehow made within the time he Raps’ said anything. Raps walked cautiously up to him.

“Varian, did something happen last night?” She asked with a smirk. Varian placed the cup of coffee down and took a deep breath. He settled down and leaned against the table, smiling.

“Yeah... But you have to promise not to tell Eugene or Lance. They’d never let me live it down.”

Raps nodded and sat down; she grabbed a packet and started to make warm cocoa for both of them. Varian told her what happened last night, excluding the falling into the water and the contents of their conversation, getting happier as he spoke. “...And we agreed to meet up later.”

She handed him a cup of cocoa and drank her own cup.

“Varian...”

She responded with a smile.

He gently hit her in the arm.

“Ah, be quiet.”

They shared a chuckle, and Rapunzel asked, “So, you’ll be headed down to the dock at 4:00?”

Varian nodded and looked at the clock. 12:30.

Raps did the same and pouted. “Guess I should go.” She bowed and announced, “That is all the time we have today, my good man, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Varian laughed and waved goodbye as Raps left. He flopped on the bed and couldn’t stop smiling about what happened last night.

<•>

Varian got to work, but he couldn’t really focus that day. He tried to stay focused, but he was too busy dreaming up hypothetical situations for what could go wrong on the meet-up and preparing for them.

As he was working on his experiment, he muttered to himself.

“Okay, so, I could possibly slip and fall into the water again,” he snorted. “That would be embarrassing...”

He stopped pouring the liquid into the vial for a second. “But not implausible,” he mumbled, going back to the task at hand


	3. On A Boat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian and Vex go on a date! Well, not a date, MOST DEFINITELY, not a date; I mean, PFFT-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might the chapter I had the most fun with!

Since Varian didn’t have nice outfits stashed away in his lab, maybe a few stolen chemicals, and he didn’t want to bother Quirin for an outfit, (crop season meant BUSINESS), he had to stick with what he had. BUT, that didn’t mean he couldn’t use a bit of makeup.

Varian ran down to the dock, nearly tripping on his shoelaces. He didn’t want Vex to have to wait for him. He came to a skid and looked around. Vex wasn’t here which meant he either arrived early, or she waited and bailed because of his lateness. Varian bit his lip and brushed a few loose hair strands out of his face. He muttered to himself any conversation starters to use and turned around to see Vex right in front of him.

“AAAH!”

Vex chuckled. “Yikes, it’s just me!”

Varian huffed and bit his cheek. “You surprised me, that’s all.”

He sat down and asked, “What do you think of Corona?”

She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s got nice, passionate people, which is definitely different from my city; everything looks new and covered in graffiti, which was apparently done by the princess??”

Varian nodded. “Yeah, we had to rebuild everything after the entire town and castle got destroyed by-“

He cut himself off and waved his hand. “It’s a long story…”

Vex didn’t pressure him; she just stared out at the sea, leading Varian to stare with her.

“Hey..”

Vex turned to him with a grin. “You wanna steal a boat?”

Varian grinned with her.

“Hell yes.”

<•>

Vex and Varian pushed the boat into the water. They hopped in and Varian grabbed the oars, rowing away fast. The original owner of the boat shook his fist angrily unable to catch them. (They were a good distance away.)

“Don’t worry, whateveryournameis; we’ll give it back when we’re done!”

Vex called, snickering.

“Yeah, don’t worry, Simon!”

Varian yelled, and Simon ran off, probably to tell someone that ‘that science kid’ and some random girl had stolen his boat.

Varian and Vex laughed and decided to row farther out.

Vex looked at her reflection in the water, and Varian looked at his.

“You sparkle in your reflection. Even though you already sparkled.”

Varian blushed at what he said, and so did Vex.

“What?” Vex asked, and Varian laughed awkwardly.

“Haha, let’s pretend I didn’t say that!”

He cleared his throat and leaned against the side of the boat. (Ha! That rhymed!)

‘Well, Varian, you’ve officially made things awkward! How do you wanna respond, dumbass?’ The boy shooed away his thoughts. Vex stopped looking at the water, and he grabbed the oars.

“Wanna row over there?”

He pointed over to the mainland.

“Why not,” she said, and he started rowing. They arrived, and Varian rubbed his arms sorely which Vex caught immediately.

“Alright, I’m rowing us back once we’ve explored this place.”

Varian nodded and stretched his arm only causing it to hurt more.

Vex poked her head through some bushes and motioned Varian over. He walked to her and looked where she pointed.

“That place looks fun,” she remarked, looking at the Snuggly Duckling.

Varian shrugged. “I mean, it’s alright, but…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of glass being broken and screaming could be heard.

Vex’s eyes widened, and curiosity took over her. She hopped over the bush and sprinted over to the pub, Varian tailing behind her.

“VEX, WAIT-“

He caught up, trying to catch his breath.

“For a deputy, you really like stealing and fights.”

She grinned and flipped her hair.

“It’s a quirk of mine,” she joked with a wink. Varian blushed and rolled his eyes, before pushing open the door.

A beer mug flew at them; they quickly dodged and looked around inside, worried.

Inside, Lance shouted while he restrained a drunken thug, “THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS! THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS!”

Varian blinked and said, “We should probably go…”

Lance yelled, “NAH, YOU GUYS ARE FINE!” He dropped the drunken guy, who groaned in anger and waddled away.

The two sat down, and Lance shot Varian a smug grin. Varian blushed and mouthed to Lance, “Don’t you dare…”

Lance, in true Lance fashion, proceeded to do it anyway.

“Aw, Varian, you did go talk to Vex, I’m so proud of you…” He said, catching Vex’s attention.

“What?”

Varian kept trying to make signs at Lance to cut it out, and he did thankfully. He handed Vex and Varian a mug sat down.

“Y’all are both under 21, right?”

They nodded, and Vex muttered something about, “What a killjoy…”

Lance narrowed his eyes at her and started looking for drinks.

“Just give us, um, milkshakes?”

“Gotcha.”

Vex slouched and picked at her gloves. The not-yet couple glanced between each other before immediately looking to the floor. Lance slammed down two vanilla milkshakes because that was the only flavor they had.

Vex picked hers up and sloshed it up a bit, bored.

“Two milkshakes for the happy couple!”

They immediately sat up and began trying to defend themselves.

“Oh, no, this isn’t a date-“

“We just decided to visit-“

They kept getting caught up in each other’s words, telling each other, ‘You go first.’

Lance nodded and slowly walked away to another person to serve.

Vex drank some of her milkshake as Varian apologized, “Sorry about Lance…”

She sloshed it around her milkshake again and responded, “I knew that guy while the princess was visiting my place; he was a REAL idiot.”

She told him the story about the sneezeweasel.

Varian laughed and told her his own story about the ROOSTER.

“And that’s just one thing he’s done to *me*, who *knows* what else he’s done to anyone else unfortunate enough.”

Vex laughed, and Varian smiled.

She drank some more of her milkshake and grinned.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t rival this one dumbass, old lady I was trying to catch,” she said.

Varian leaned into the story.

“Alright, so this woman had stolen another lady’s purse, and she kept trying to play it off like, ‘Oh no… This is mine,’ when THE OTHER LADY NAME WAS ENGRAVED ON IT….” She continued on.


	4. Someone's in Trouble...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian and Vex got caught. Oh dear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire chapter was an April fool's prank… Eyy. Not because of my lack of confidence. Nope  
> (Note, this chapter was written on April 5  
> This series is kind of old)

“…And that’s when Arlo hit her over the head with a chair!” They both laughed hard, and Varian held his hands up, “Okay, okay. But wait until you hear…”

They spent the rest of the hour telling stories, making up jokes and messing with Lance. Eventually, they got so caught up in their fun that Lance had to tell them that the sun was setting, and they should head home.

The two left the Snuggly Duckling and smiled at each other. After a moment, Vex sheepishly cleared her throat and walked toward the tiny boat.

“Remember, I’m rowing.”

They hopped out on the boat, and Vex started to row them out.

Varian glanced at the water and thought maybe he could make his move…

“You know when I said you sparkle? I meant it…”

Vex looked up and snickered, slightly blushing.

“You dork…”

Varian smiled warmly before his face went cold. He pointed behind them, and Vex checked, her face going pale as well.

“Fuck,” they said in unison.

Quirin and Quaid stood tapping their foot, and Simon still shook his fist their way. (Poor guy must’ve been standing there a while.)

“If we row away fast enough, they might think we’re someone else out at sea.”

<•>

They slowly got out of the boat and walked up to their respective ‘chaperone.’

“Hi, Quaid…“

“Hi, Dad…”

The three adults spent the next 10 minutes scolding the two children before dragging Vex to her hotel and Varian to Old Corona.

The walk back to Old Corona spent itself in silence until Varian broke it.

“Dad, we were going to give it back…”

Quirin didn’t say anything, and the conversation went back to silent.

They stopped at the door, and Nora, Varian’s sister, opened up.

Quirin walked in and finally spoke up, “I’m happy that you’re taking breaks, but remember, you’re the Royal Engineer.”

Varian nodded and looked around.

“…Can I go back to my lab-“

Quirin grabbed some carrots and asked, “You can’t have dinner with your family?”

Varian sighed and smiled in relief.

After a “bit” of badgering from Nora and chopping some garlic, Varian ran up to his room. He took a second to catch his breath and looked out the window.

Hopefully, Vex was doing okay, being a deputy and getting caught stealing didn’t mix.

‘WELL, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE ENCOURAGED HER-‘

He told his brain to be quiet; it didn’t. Surprising.

Varian slouched against the window and sighed. He scanned the horizon in wonder. Quaid really did tell her off on the dock.

Snapping out of it, Nora shoved open the door, holding Ruddiger.

“Varian, your raccoon somehow ended up at the door. ALL THE WAY FROM THE CASTLE.”

Varian turned around, very confused. “Wait, what?”

“I don’t know, he came in VERY angry.”

She let him go, and Ruddiger ran up to Varian and hopped onto Varian’s bed.

“You have something on your face.”

Before fully closing the door, she stopped.

“Oh, and dinner’s almost ready,” she said and shut the door. He looked in the mirror and groaned, realizing the makeup had run. He felt his cheeks burn as he wiped his face.

Ruddiger curled up on the bed, and Varian sat beside him. He greeted his pet and sighed. “Ah, Ruddiger, I see you’re mad at me.”

The raccoon glared at Varian and pouted.

“Well, excuse me if when I have plans, I-“

He realized his error and exhaled. “Aw, buddy, I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you about Vex and the-“

He blinked and muttered, “Oh my God, what was it?”

He shook his head and carried on.

“But yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Vex, but I didn’t think you’d care,” he shrugged. Ruddiger glared at him, before crawling into his lap.

“Aw…”

He began to tell Ruddiger about his day; well, more the past two days because had been busy with a stand-alone adventure.

He summarized most of it because he didn’t want to relay two stories he already told Raps.

Nora shoved open the door and yelled, “HAH!”

Varian jumped and looked at her as if she was insane.

“Dad told me to come to tell you dinner was ready, but I got something even better out of this! Information about Vex!”

Varian arched an eyebrow and asked, “And what are you gonna do with it?”

“Ah-“

She stood silently in the doorway for a minute then waved it off.

“I don’t know; but anyway yeah! Dad made pasta!”

She walked off, and after lifting Ruddiger off him, Varian followed.

<•>

After dinner, Varian headed back to the lab to check back on the samples of his experiment (with Ruddiger.) Remember that?

He opened the door and eyed the castle. No ambush… yet. He darted off and checked on the experiment. He took a filled casing and gave it a crack. It took a second, but it glowed vividly. He didn’t wince from the brightness and noticed something he couldn’t before. The way the liquid had changed color. A thought passed through his mind, but he couldn’t be sure.

To test it, he banged his elbow against a table and groaned in pain, but he grinned as the liquid turned a dark red.

(Yes, this is a mood ring glow stick. SUE ME, DAMNIT!)

He couldn’t wait to show to Raps, Ruddiger trailing behind him, and sped out only to run into Eugene.

“Eugene, hey!”

Eugene narrowed his eyes and greeted, “Hello, boat thief..”

Varian laughed awkwardly and looked out of the corner of his eyes. Eugene held up his hands. “Varian, it’s fine! I’m joking!”

He laughed sheepishly, and Varian looked up. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head.

“I knew that- Wait, how did YOU know about the boat thing?”

“I heard it from Lance… Who heard it from Shorty, who heard it from-“

As Eugene continued, Varian felt his limbs going cold. That explained a lot of the giggling and whispers from the street.

Eugene, noticing the boy shaking and zoning out, shook Varian lightly.

“Kid! You there…?”

He blinked, nodded, and remembered the experiment in his hand. “Look! The experiment I was talking about earlier can change color! I don’t even know how I did it, but I did!”

He laughed and handed it to Eugene. Eugene noticed the vial going from sickly green to a regular purple.

“It changes color based on emotion!”

Eugene grinned with Varian and laughed. “This is so cool, Goggles!”

Varian beamed and nodded. “I was about to go show Rapunzel!”

Eugene shoved him off and said, still grinning, “Well, go show her!”

Varian smiled and ran off.


	5. A Glowstick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel's birthday is coming up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my longest chapter, but I had fun!

Varian swung open the door to Rapunzel’s room.

“RAPUNZEL! The experiment works even better than I’d hoped!”

Raps nearly dropped her book and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Woah! Varian, what happened with the experiment?”

Raps set down her book and looked to Varian.

“I- I don’t know how, but it responds to emotions and changes color!”

He beamed and handed it to her. She took it and examined it. The color did indeed change, and she smiled.

“Varian, that’s so cool!”

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. “Heh, Eugene said the same thing…”

She smiled and said, “Because it’s true.”

He leaned against the bedpost, and Raps asked, “So, why’d you two steal the boat?”

He cringed and tried to come up with an explanation, but nothing came to mind other than’ it was easier than paying.’

Varian laughed sheepishly, and Rapunzel folded her arms. Varian looked out of the corner of his eye, avoiding Raps’ gaze. Despite how positive she was, she had the glare of a disappointed mother. He kept staring at the ground and so did she (at him.)

Eventually, she won. Took about a few seconds. Varian whipped around anxiously and started babbling an attempt to defend himself, “I mean, we were going to give it back, and you know Simon, he never uses the old thing, so it just gathers dust-“

Raps held her hand up. “Varian! Calm down, now, tell me what happened, slowly…”

Varian took a deep breath and muttered nervously, “We just… took it? I don’t think there’s a good explanation here.”

Raps sighed and laid her hands in her lap, and Ruddiger chittered skittishly.

After about half a minute of silence, trust me, it’s very long, Varian said, “He spent a good 10 minutes yelling at me; I didn’t know Simon could scream like that, and it’s scary.”

Rapunzel laughed slightly. “He just seems so quiet, but he goes berserk when you go near his stuff.”

Varian folded his arms and pouted jokingly. “No one else had a boat out-“

She scowled at him, and Varian waved his hands. “Kidding, kidding.”

She sighed and leaned against a pillow while Ruddiger and Pascal played chess (only one of them knowing how.)

“So, the date went fine?”

Varian blushed and cleared his throat. “It wasn’t a date; we were just hanging out, having fun at the Snuggly Duckling…”

He held his hands up. “Well, not having ‘fun,’ just talking, heh… You know.”

Varian, ignoring all the voice cracks in his throat from those sentences (that the author didn’t include) smiled, full of chagrin.

Raps gave him a sympathetic smile as he finished, “B-but, yeah, it wasn’t a date.”

He picked up, Ruddiger, who just lost the chess game.

“Well, I’ll see you later, Raps! Love you!” He yelled, already at the door. He shut the door behind and ran back to the lab.

<•>

Varian did get some sleep that night, but he spent most of it working on trying to replicate the formula he made. By the time he went back to sleep, he had three vials of the formula including the original.

He would’ve made more, but he fell asleep before he could. Sunlight beams shining right in his eye awoke him, and he sat up. (Yes, the poor boy fell asleep at his desk again.)

Looking around lazily, he tried to wake his brain up and rubbed his eyes. He squinted at the clock and tried to read it.

‘9… No, that’s an 8…’ 

8:40.

Hm.

He stretched and heard a knock at the door. A second passed and no one burst in, meaning it wasn’t Rapunzel. Not processing his appearance, he wiped his mouth of sleep-drool and headed over. He opened it to see Vex. He blinked and immediately straightened his spine (the best he could in his tired state.)

Vex cleared her throat and attempted to appear nonchalant. “Hey, Varian, you wanna hang out on the other side of town… At, I don’t know, 1:00? 2:00?”

She examined her nails (not really) while Varian tried to process what she said. Keep in mind, this boy had just woke up; his brain hadn’t kept up with the morning. Vex noticed. She sighed and grabbed the door handle.

“Yeah, I should’ve come at a later time; I’ll come back when you’ve actually woken up.”

She shut the door, and Varian yawned.

Well, if she was going to come back; he could get some more sleep….

He woke up the next hour, this time on the bed, and yawned. That was a crazy dream. He blinked and gears turned in his head. That was a dream, right? (SIDE NOTE: It wasn’t.)

He shrugged it off and went to get ready.

<•>

About 2 hours later, someone, (*cough* Vex,) knocked at the door. Now fully awake and not drowsy, Varian opened up. “Hey, Vex!”

He leaned against the doorframe and Vex greeted, “Hey Varian.”

She muttered something and repeated what she asked earlier not bringing up that this was her second time saying this.

Varian blinked and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sure! 1:00 works!”

“Oh, good! See ya!”

She tipped an imaginary hat, smiled weakly, and left.

A thought manifested in Varian’s head, and he grinned. He grabbed a vial of the experiment delicately and shoved it in his bag not so delicately.

What? They were unbreakable and-

Another knock came, and Raps let herself in.

“Daily check-in!” She declared extravagantly. Varian rolled his eyes and placed his bag on the bed.

She sat down next to Varian, who told her, “So far, I’ve recreated the experiment times, including this morning, and it’s going well!”

Rapunzel chimed in, “That’s great! You know what it’s made of?”

He nodded eagerly and told her the ingredients. (I’m not telling you because I know nothing about science and the elements. While I do know the ingredients of a regular glow stick, I don’t know how Tangled-ify them.)

Rap inquired, “Isn’t [redacted] a little hard to come by?”

He nodded but said, “I still have enough to make a few more, like 5 or 6…”

He shrugged and stated, “If I remove that element, guess I’ll just have a regular glow stick.”

His eyes widened before he shook his head. “That’s a silly name.”

They talked for the rest of the hour, without bringing up Vex, and Rapunzel’s time was up. She got up and stretched. “Back to being a princess…”

She told Varian farewell and headed out to do her royal duties. The boy exhaled and went to work. He would get ready in a minute, but he could work on a formula or two before one o'clock.

After making about three, Varian glanced at the clock, then did a double-take.

5 minutes to get to the other side of town…

He slammed down the formulas and quickly grabbed his bag. Ruddiger followed after him as he ran out the door.

He arrived ten minutes later to see Vex already there. Vex turned and winked.

“Hey, Royal Nerd, took you long enough.”

He smiled and leaned against a post. “Well, I’m sorry-“

He tried to think up something to call her.

“…Well, I’m sorry, Deputy; I tried my best.”

Ruddiger rolled his eyes, and Vex looked down at the raccoon.

“Well, who’s this?” She asked, humor in her eyes.

Varian looked down.

“Oh!” He exclaimed and picked up his pet.

“This is Ruddiger!”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

She shook his paw playfully, and Ruddiger shook back before crawling onto Varian’s shoulder.

He smiled, and his eyes widened. He immediately reached into his bag and pulled out the vial.

“I made this!”

He realized how brash and out of nowhere that was and pulled back embarrassedly, but Vex seemed intrigued.

“It’s a… light?”

“Oh no- Well yes, but it’s a light that when you break it; it activates! But that’s not the coolest part!”

He did the same thing he did to test it before and bang his arm on a wall, and it flashed red.

“OW! Heh, see? Changes color based on your mood!”

Varian cringed in pain again, and Vex reached out concerned.

She grabbed his arm gently and joshed with a weak grin, “That’s amazing, but of all the ways to show me how it works…”

He chuckled, still in pain, and looked down her hand as did she, and the two quickly retracted from each other’s grasp awkwardly.

Ruddiger again rolled his eyes at the painful-to-watch teenagers and glanced around. He noticed Monty’s Sweet Shop and squeaked to grab Varian’s attention.

“Hm?”

The raccoon pointed towards it, and Varian asked, “Oh, the sweet shop?”

Ruddiger nodded eagerly, and Vex interjected, “Guess we listen to Ruddiger; the sweet shop doesn’t look so bad.”

Varian added, “But no stealing.”

“Yeah, we both got in hard enough trouble for that.”

“Heh, yeah… Now shall we?”

Vex nodded her head, Varian linked arms with her, and she blinked in surprise. She proceeded to blush and simper.

‘Heh… Dork.’

<•>

They spent the next two weeks meeting up, talking, occasionally flirting, went home, and went back the next day. This time would be different.

Today was Rapunzel’s birthday, meaning the lanterns would light up the night, and he planned on asking Vex as an official date.

Yes, of course, he would be there for Raps on her birthday, but she always watched the lanterns with her parents and Eugene anyway so…

He brushed his hair, dabbed on some makeup, and looked at his attire. Maybe today would be a good idea to wear something different.

He thought and decided, why not, ‘I’ma go shopping.’

He ran down to the store, bought a nice outfit, and that was that.

He headed down to Vex’s hotel and knocked.

Vex opened the door, and she waved. “Hey, Varian.”

He waved back and tucked his hands behind him.

“Hey Vex, you want to go see the lanterns tonight? As a date?”

At the word ‘date,’ Vex’s eyes widened, and she blushed. She cleared her throat and muttered, tugging at her hair, “Yeah, sure, that’s good- That’s not so bad.”

Varian beamed and told her, “Oh! Great! See ya then!”

He waved goodbye, and Vex shut the door. She grinned happily and tried not to show too much excitement. Wow, she never really thought this would happen especially to her… She quickly realized she needed to get ready.

She skipped out on makeup, did her hair, put on a dress, and waited.

<•>

They met at the dock, and Varian waved her over, a lantern in his hand.

Vex walked up with her lantern. She noticed the new outfit because of how ironed it was (totally not because Varian forgot to take off the price tag.)

He took her hand in his and led her up one of the ships on the dock. (This time paying to get on.)

They sat next to each other and waited for Raps' to let the first lantern go.

“So… I decided a name for this.”

He pulled out the vial and held it up.

“I’ve decided to call it, Vexium!”

Vex stared at him in shock before bursting out into giggles. Varian’s heart sank, and Vex immediately began to explain, “Hey, I don’t mean anything bad by it; I’m flattered! But name it something cooler than just my name, like how about we just call it a glow stick, dork.”

She punched him in the arm, and he smiled weakly. A light passed through his peripheral, signaling everyone to follow suit and let their lanterns go.

Varian and Vex lit theirs and let them float into the sky. While this was a sight familiar to Varian, this was a sight completely new to Vex, and her eyes said it. He blushed and smiled before thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, Eugene did this exact same thing with Rapunzel.’

Not gonna tell Eugene about this. Well, he wasn’t going to anyway-

Vex slipped her hand in his, and Varian’s ears heated. He focused his attention on the lights; they REALLY were amazing to behold. He wondered what it was like for Rapunzel, seeing these on her birthday but never knowing they were meant to bring her back home.

“Vex… I like you.”

The words slipped out of my mouth, and he turned red. Vex’s eyes widened, and they darted to look at him.

“Like, more than a friend?” She asked.

“Yeah, more than a friend…”

He glanced at her, and she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I like you too. More than a friend…”

He smiled warmly and leaned his head on her shoulder. She blushed and continued to look at the lights.

After the show, Vex and Varian stopped at the door. “Well, I’ll be leaving tomorrow evening,” she grimaced.

Varian held her hands. “We can write to each other.”

She smiled and said, “Well, if you get a letter from Vardaros…”

His eyes widened, and he reached into the bag, bringing out a formula. “Before I forget, here. You get to keep one-“

She kissed him before he could fully finish the sentence, and the formula turned a bright shade of pink.

(As did Varian *cough*.)

She pulled away and grinned. “See you tomorrow, Royal Nerd.”

He waved goodbye, still in shock, as she walked away. (She did grab her gift.)

He slowly entered the castle and shut the door behind him. Varian grinned widely and jumped for joy. He leaned against the door and brushed his hair out of his face.

“Oh my God…”

He ran up the stairs and almost tripped over Raps. “Woah, Varian, slow down, I-“

She noticed how red Varian’s face was and laid a hand to it. “Are you OK? You don’t have a fever?”

He brushed her hand away gently, still giddy. “No, no, Raps, I’m fine! Better than ever!”

He rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “I’ll tell you what happened later…”

He went back to speeding down the hall.

He slammed the door of the alchemical study behind him, blood still rushing through him.

He spun around a bunch and landed on his bed, Ruddiger behind him.

The raccoon started making kissy faces and teasing Varian, and Varian sarcastically responded, “Haha.”

He stared at the ceiling with a grin. Maybe life wasn’t happily ever after, but life was okay.


End file.
